950 
Of* RURAL NEW-YORKER 
July 2\), l\)‘-2 
)' • .< 
revengeful man had enme (o realize the 
outcome of his wicked plan his feeliugs 
had become so changed that he was pro¬ 
foundly relieved at the turn affairs had 
taken. Eventually, it is said, he made 
open confession to his neighbor of what 
he had attempted, and they were able to 
laugh together in renewed amity, over 
the fact that for once an evil deed had 
resulted, literally and figuratively, in good 
fruits. c. a. t. 
Of course the wood ashes contained 
lime and potash, both of which are needed 
by peach trees. Through his ignorance 
of fertilizing values this man gave the 
trees just what they needed. Would that 
every attempt to injure our neighbor 
could turn out in this way. We are re¬ 
minded of the story in one of Charles 
Reade’s novels. A farmer was in great 
trouble over his debts which resulted 
from several bad seasons. One niglit be 
had a dream in which lie found himself 
digging a pot of gold from the ground 
near oue of his mulberry trees. He could 
not remember which tree it was, so he 
worked all through the Fall and Winter 
or men are incapable. Far better insist 
that man and woman must be capable of 
self help than to argue that the govern¬ 
ment must step in and give State sup¬ 
port. 
Things To Think About 
The object of this department is to give readers a chance to express themselves on farm 
matters. Not long articles can be used—just short, pointed opinions or suggestions. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER does not always endorse what is printed here. You might 
call this a mental safety valve, 
located on State road between Albany 
haiko George, with large maple trees 
in front of the house along the road. I 
have been selling produce and hot lunches 
on a sort of counter by the side of the 
road, and some of the people here toll me 
I must not put any signs or stands or 
practically anything else within 40 ft. of 
the road. The funny part is the house 
only sets about 20 ft. from the road, and 
is a real old-timer, but kept in good re¬ 
pair.^ It was probably built long before 
the State road was over thought of. Do 
we own our own dooryard and front part 
of the house, or does someone else own it? 
If the State owns it, who has to paint it 
and pay taxes on it? i. t. 
New York. 
Who are those people who say you 
must put your stand 40 ft. from the 
road? If you keep inside your yard, 
about 2 ft. back from the highway line, 
you are within your rights. Ir is get¬ 
ting so that a property owner may well 
wonder whether he has any rights, or 
whether a paternal government is to as¬ 
sume control of everything he does, in¬ 
cluding eating and sleeping. Your door- 
yard belongs to you. You can use it to 
suit yourself. 
More Unsigned Letters 
Some of our readers find it hard to be¬ 
lieve that so many people send us un¬ 
signed letters. One way to prove it is to 
print, as we do below, an engraving made 
from one such letter just at hand: 
Father’s Right to Son's Wages 
Will you advise whether a man can 
collect a soil’s wages after driving him 
from his home? The boy is 18 years of 
age. but the father has deprived him of 
all his possessions, and now demands that 
his present employer pay him no wages 
without an order from him (the father). 
It seems to me logically that he would 
either have to support the son or allow 
him to draw his own wages, but I would 
thank you for any information you can 
give me. If the son can draw bis own 
money, will you advise me the procedure 
that could he taken without taking the 
matter into court? L. m. h. 
The law provides that the parent can 
demand and receive the wages of a minor 
son. A parent, however, may emanci¬ 
pate an infant child, and by so doing 
loses the right to recover wages earned 
by the son. Whether a parent intends 
to emancipate his son is a question of 
fact, and in the case of Lind. vs. Sulle- 
st.-idr the court said the law will some¬ 
times imply an emancipation from par¬ 
ental authority and control, as where a 
father compels or consents that his minor 
child shall go abroad and earn his own 
livelihood, or neglects to support him. 
There is no procedure fur you to fake. 
Probably the only real way that the mat¬ 
ter could be tested would be in an action 
brought by the parent to recover the 
wages. There are very few who would 
care to employ the boy and take with him 
the possibility of a lawsuit. Why not 
make the father support the son unless 
he will sign a release for the boy’s wages? 
N. T. 
We presume this is a man. Just why 
he should refuse to sign his name we can¬ 
not tell, but this is a fair sample of hun¬ 
dreds. A woman in New York State may 
own property and transact business in 
her own name. If she owns a farm and 
sells it her husband lias no legal right to 
the money, unless his wife sees fit to turn 
it over to him. 
What Is a Self-made Man? 
On page 774. in some remarks on the 
educational fund of the Massachusetts 
State Orange, you closed with this state¬ 
ment : “We are living in a new age now. 
and uo one ever saw a self-made man 
who could be said to be an ideal charac¬ 
ter." Please state clearly what you mean 
by a self-made man. Also, your concep¬ 
tion of an ideal character. 
S. O. Bt T LI.I V A NT. 
Our idea of a self-made man is one who 
was forced to exert himself to the limit 
in order to provide for and educate him¬ 
self. In these days the majority of young 
people are carried and provided for so 
that they have 1 ittie idea of responsibility. 
Their expenses are paid by their parents 
or guardians, and in many cases they 
are given an "allowance,” which we re¬ 
gard as a direct invitation to go and lean 
up against someone for support. A "self- 
made" man must rely upon his own 
exertions for support and education. He 
is forced very largely to linance his own 
life and develop his own character. As a 
rule, what we call a “self-made man" is 
a poor hoy to start with. He usually 
fights his way up from poverty and 
through hard conditions. Yet we can 
think of cases where the son of a rich 
man might also be called a self-made 
man. Theodore Roosevelt was of that 
class. Though reared in comparative 
luxury and never troubled over financial 
matters, he developed health and energy 
and sturdy, rugged character through his 
own exertions. We have always felt that 
both Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln 
were what we may call self-made men 
—one fighting his way Up through the 
softening influences of wealth, and the 
other rising from the hard conditions of 
poverty. 
We do not know that we can fully de¬ 
scribe what we call an ideal character, 
but we know what the “self-made” man 
Non-sitting Hen Wanted 
I am a great deal troubled wit 
S. C. \Y, Leghorns becoming brood 
am not surprised at the Rocks 
Wyandotte*, "but the Leghorns being 
sitters. I do not know whether jny 
has anything to do with it or not. 
are fed on the best mash obtainable 
scratch. They have to dig fheir m 
out uf the litter, with ground oats i 
middle of the day. By keeping 
away from the nests about four 
they are soon hack to business ngn 
have no show birds, but great egg 
duccrs. 
Glen Campbell, Pa. 
I have never seen a strain or bre 
non-sitting liens and, as was said < 
purple cow, I never hope to see 
Leghorns, the non-sitting breed, 
pretty good mothers. Mine freqt 
begin to show their maternal instim 
March, and I have sometimes th 
that the best layers among them 
quickest to want, to sit. I have no 
data upun that subject, however, 
one encouraging thing about Legion 
ters is the fact that they are 
broken up. A piece of broken brie 
a tin dipper handle won’t keep them 
all Summer trying to hatch out a 
I erg likely this picture was taken on Flay Day on some farm hack from town. The 
children are saluting the flay, and they look as though they realized what that means. 
It is a fine thing to develop a true respect for the flag among country children. They 
ate to be the land owners of the future, and this nation mast ever look to its free¬ 
holders for the tme conservation of loyally. 
life. You will find men who have 
e a great success at some materia! 
k. They never had a college cduea- 
. and arc inclined to scoff at its value, 
if yon ever get close enough to them 
(now their inner thoughts, yon will 
n that if they could live their lives 
■, they would work through college. 
and dug deep holes around each tree in 
the large orchard. He found no gold, 
but the digging so cultivated and stimu¬ 
lated the trees that they bore a tre¬ 
mendous crop and brought him more 
than the pot of gold would have done. 
Good Results from Evil Purpose 
Modern farmers and fruit growers are 
finding highly true the adage that "knowl¬ 
edge is power,” but at a time when soil 
analysis and an understanding of com¬ 
parative fertilizer values were uncommon, 
ignorance of such matters once brought 
about a happy result. 
A man who held some grievance against 
a neighbor sought revenge upon him by 
attempting to injure his promising young 
peach orchard. For a long time he col¬ 
lected wood ashes, and then secretly, and 
at a time when he thought his actions 
would not soon be discovered, he con¬ 
veyed the ashes to the orchard and de¬ 
posited them generously where he imag¬ 
ined they would do the most harm. Of 
course the young trees grew and flour¬ 
ished. Nothing, apparently, could have 
pleased them better. By the time the 
